Big 3? Or is this another problem.

[spoonraker 10+ year member]

I have a 2000W Cadence moboblock amp powering an Audiobahn Eternal series 12'' sub in a ported box. Sony deck powering my speakers, standard 6x9, 3 inch doors and tweeter setup.

It's not the best, but it sounds great and hits hard.

My problem is ever since I had a car alarm installed it doesn't seem to hit as hard. If I have a sustained bass tone it seems to still have the power, but the initial punch isn't there. I listen to a lot of music with punchy bass lines like this so I really notice a difference. Also the headlights are dimming with the bass.

Could this be caused by the car alarm taking power from the audio stuff? What would you suggest I do? Would doing the big 3 fix this problem? I've tried tuning my amp, thinking maybe a knob just got jarred or something but everything is dead on.

In case it matters the car alarm is a 2-way paging alarm with remote start, trunk pop, and all the other options.

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[spoonraker 10+ year member]

What else would cause this? Also how much does it cost to big 3?

I'm confident it has something to do with the alarm since I noticed it for the first time driving home from the audio shop when they finished installing it. It's a very noticable difference, like I said it's in the punch not in the sustained tones.

 

[spoonraker 10+ year member]

The sub sounded amazing until recently, and it still sounds good it just doesn't have a lot of punch like it used to.

I didn't post this to show off my amazing system, I posted this hoping to get some insight into my problem, if you can't offer any then please refrain from posting.

 

[maldecido33 10+ year member]

It's not the alarm; just not possible. That thing doesn't draw near enough current to mess with ur electrical.

Check the connections under the hood; the shop may not have tightened something completely when installing the alarm (like your negative or positive leads to the battery) or something of that nature. Check all connections, from the battery, to the fuse, to the amp, everywhere.

Also, check your headunit settings.

 

[spoonraker 10+ year member]

I've already checked my HU settings. It's a pretty cheap HU so basically I just have low/mid/high and nothing else to check. I'll check the connections when I get off work in 30 minutes.

 

[spoonraker 10+ year member]

I just checked the wiring under the hood and it all looks normal, everything is tightly fastened.

I did however notice that my power wire is only 8 gauge for an amp pushing 1000W. I didn't do that part of the install.

 

[NoLimit 10+ year member]

Yeah, that could be your problem. Bump the gauge up to 4 or 0. 0 will pay off the end, if you plan on upgrading.

 

[spoonraker 10+ year member]

Now I understand that Big 3 will be good, and I understand that 8 gauge wire probably isn't sufficient for what I'm using it for...however that still doesn't help me with my problem. The fact is it worked, perfectly, absolutely nothing was changed with the exception of an alarm being installed, and now it sounds different.

 

[bigbangtheory 5,000+ posts]

Is this place the same place that you got your system installed? If so, then I would take it back to them and explain your situation to them. If it wasnt them then I would suggest the big 3 like you have mentioned and for sure upgrade your wiring to a least 4guage. I hear ya on that it was bumping nice and all before, but that never hurts to upgrade that. As far as cost for the big3, it isnt that much at all. Just get some decent wire under your hood and in one of these threads is a big3 sticky on how to go about installing it. I did it myself on my other car I had and was right on and it worked. Good luck!

 

[supraman1379 10+ year member]

I just cant see the problem as being your alarm. I doubt it draws enough power to mess with anything. My guess is do the Big 3 and defiantely get bigger power wire.

 

[spoonraker 10+ year member]

I'll give the audio shop a call tomorrow. Any more ideas? I understand that it's not the best situation with the wires and such, and I intend on upgrading the wire, but that still doesn't explain why it just all of a sudden changed.